LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


PUBLIC    BENEFITS  DERIVED   FROM 

WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS 

IN  CALIFORNIA 


PUBLIC  BENEFITS  DERIVED 

FROM  WATER  POWER 

DEVELOPMENTS  IN 

CALIFORNIA 


By  JOHN  MARTIN 

SAN  FRANCISCO 


Read  at  17th  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Gas  Association, 
held  in  San  Francisco,  California,  Sept.  21-23,  1909 


PUBLIC    BENEFITS    DERIVED    FROM 

WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS 

IN  CALIFORNIA. 


JOHN  MARTIN,  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

Read  at  Seventeenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Pacific   Coast 
Gas  Association,  held  in  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, September  21-23,  1909. 

In  the  early  days  of  California  mining,  the 
streams  were  utilized  very  generally  to  aid  in  the 
extraction  of  gold  by  ground  sluicing,  hydraulic 
mining  and  for  power  purposes  in  the  develop- 
ment of  quartz  mines.  During  the  progress  of 
this  industry  the  engineers  were  confronted  with 
many  problems  in  hydraulics  which  they  were 
able  to  master  satisfactorily. 

Owing  to  the  climatic  conditions  of  Cali- 
fornia with  its  well  known  wet  and  dry  seasons, 
it  became  necessary  for  the  mine  owners  to  in- 
sure a  continuous  supply  of  water  during  the  dry 
season,  which  resulted  in  the  construction  of  a 
large  number  of  reservoirs;  the  dams  which  im- 
pounded the  water  were  many  and  of  varied 
types,  all  of  which  are  well  known  to  the  engi- 
neers of  this  day. 

The  effect  of  hydraulic  mining,  particularly  Sgof  Hydraulic 
in  the  northern  portion  of  the  State,  resulted  in 


4  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

the  filling  of  the  river  beds  with  debris  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  threaten  the  agricultural  interests 
throughout  the  great  Sacramento  and  San  Joa- 
quin  Valleys.  As  the  beds  of  these  streams  would 
rise  it  necessitated  the  construction  of  levees,  in- 
volving the  expenditure  of  many,  many  millions 
of  dollars  to  protect  the  agricultural  lands  from 
inundation  and  finally  resulted  in  national  legis- 
lation, practically  prohibiting  this  method  of 
mining  except  under  the  most  severe  restrictions, 
involving  the  impounding  of  the  debris.  As  a 
result,  this  industry  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  the 
State's  production  of  wealth  and  left  a  number 
of  these  properties  with  their  expensive  hydraulic 
development  almost  valueless. 

use  for  irrigation  After  the  cessation  of  hydraulic  mining,  the 
companies  owning  these  reservoirs,  flumes  and 
ditches,  were  able  to  obtain  a  small  revenue  from 
a  limited  use  of  some  of  the  water  for  irrigation 
purposes,  and  in  time,  as  man  became  more  con- 
versant with  its  proper  application,  this  use  be- 
came more  general ;  particularly  in  the  irrigation 
of  deciduous  and  citrus  fruit  trees. 

Shortly  after  the  final  cessation  of  hydraulic 
mining  the  development  of  the  transmission  of 
electrical  energy  for  long  distances  was  taken  up 
very  earnestly,  and  in  some  instances  the  hydrau- 
lic development  made  for  mining  purposes  be- 
came available  for  this  new  enterprise.  An  im- 
petus was  also  given  to  this  industry  in  sections 
where  volumes  of  water  were  available  under 
low  heads  or  where  small  amounts  of  water  were 
available  continuously  under  high  heads. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  5 

On  August  1 8,  1892,  the  very  first  alternating  DtveyioKt°"EIectric 
current  power  transmission  plant  began  opera- 
tion ;  this  was  at  the  Standard  Consolidated  Mine 
in  Bodie,  California,  operating  one  I2o-kilowatt 
single-phase  generator  and  transmitting  the  cur- 
rent thirteen  miles  to  the  mine  where  a  motor 
of  similar  voltage  received  the  current  to  operate 
the  mining  machinery.  This  was  the  pioneer 
electric  power  transmission  installation  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  I  believe  in  the  United  States. 

In  October,  1892,  a  transmission  line  of 
eighteen  miles  and  twenty-eight  miles  was  con- 
structed in  Southern  California  by  the  San  An- 
tonio Light  &  Power  Co.  to  Pomona  and  San 
Bernardino,  operating  at  10,000  volts,  and  in 
the  summer  of  1893,  the  first  plant  near  Red- 
lands  began  its  operation  with  one  i^oo-horse- 
power  generator,  transforming  and  transmitting 
at  11,000  volts  to  Riverside  and  Colton. 

This  industry  has  grown  until  now  in  Septem-  Total  Development 
ber,  1909,  over  380,000  horse-power  has  been  de- 
veloped and  is  in  operation  in  California. 

There  were  numerous  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come and  problems  to  be  solved  in  the  develop- 
ment and  perfection  of  long  distance  transmis- 
sion, and  the  particular  items  which  materially 
affected  progress  were  the  lack  of  proper  in- 
sulators, transformers  and  motors. 

In  the  San  Antonio  plant  in  order  to  obtain  a 
line  pressure  of  10,000  volts,  it  was  necessary  to 
connect  twenty  transformers  in  series,  each  trans- 
former being  wound  to  produce  500  volts,  and 
when  connected  in  series  produced  a  total  of 


6  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

10,000  volts;  a  similar  number  of  transformers 
were  used  to  reduce  the  pressure  to  the  operating 
voltage  at  the  delivery  end.  These  transformers 
were  small  and  necessarily  very  inefficient.  At 
the  present  time  the  art  has  progressed  to  such 
an  extent  that  transformers  are  extremely  effi- 
cient and  are  built  of  any  size  required  in  one 
unit  stepping  up  from  generator  voltage  as  high 
as  75,000  volts  and  (when  used  in  star  connec- 
tion) will  produce  a  pressure  of  130,000  volts. 
of  The  very  rapid  development  of  the  induction 

Rapid  Growth  motor  which  came  on  the  market  in  1895,  has  re- 

sulted in  the  production  of  a  thoroughly  suitable, 
reliable  and  efficient  piece  of  apparatus,  capable 
of  operating  365  days  in  the  year  and  twenty-four 
hours  of  each  day,  without  any  particular  atten- 
tion. 

When  the  transmission  of  current  for  long  dis- 
tances was  undertaken,  the  most  serious  problem 
presented  was  the  insulation  on  the  lines  to  pre- 
vent leakage  and  short  circuits,  and  after  many 
experiments,  satisfactory  materials,  types  of 
manufacture  and  construction  have  been  pro- 
duced so  as  to  overcome  the  line  difficulties,  in 
so  far  as  insulation  is  concerned. 

vSSS?  for  High  Tne  necessity  for  high  voltage  in  long  distance 
transmission  was  requisite  to  keep  down  the  total 
plant  cost  to  such  a  basis  as  to  make  the  enter- 
prise financially  possible. 

In  the  development  and  construction  of  hydro- 
electric plants  there  has  been  a  large  variance  in 
the  cost  of  the  hydraulic  development,  in  some 
cases  making  the  installation  unprofitable.  The 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  J 

great  initial  incentive  for  the  rapid  development 
of  hydro-electric  power  plants  in  California  was 
due  to  the  then  existing  high  fuel  costs ;  practi- 
cally all  of  our  coal  for  power  purposes  was  im- 
ported from  Australia  and  British  Columbia, 
necessitating  not  only  marine  transportation  but 
an  import  duty. 

At  the  time  of  the  inception  of  this  industry^ 
the  production  of  oil  in  California  was  very 
limited.  Before  the  true  value  of  oil  and  proper 
methods  of  use  were  thoroughly  known,  the  sell- 
ing price  in  Los  Angeles  was  as  low  as  25  cents 
per  barrel,  which  is  equivalent  to  $1.00  per  ton 
for  the  very  best  grade  of  bituminous  coal,  and 
as  long  as  prices  remained  so  low,  the  incentive 
for  hydro-electric  development  was  removed,  be- 
cause the  fuel  costs  were  more  than  able  to  com- 
pete. As  this  price  for  oil  meant  loss  to  pro- 
ducers, it  resulted  in  increased  selling  price  until 
now  the  approximate  selling  price  in  Los  Ang- 
eles is  75  cents  per  barrel,  and  in  San  Francisco, 
$1.00  per  barrel. 

During  the  last  few  years  immense  tracts  of  conservation 
timber  lands  have  been  withdrawn  from  entry  on 
the  part  of  the  Government  for  the  purpose  of 
conserving  the  timber  for  future  generations  and 
also  for  conserving  the  waters  in  the  streams, 
upon  the  basis  that  Nature's  gifts  belong  to  the 
people,  and  that  national  restriction  alone  can 
affect  beneficial  results. 

During  the  past  few  months  considerable  pub-  Publicity 
licity  has  been  given  to  this  matter  and  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  indicate  to  the  average  mind  that 


8 


PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 


Early  Efforts  Favor- 
ing Irrigation  of 
Arid  Lands 


Limit  of 
Appropriations 


some  terrible  injury  has  been  inflicted  upon  the 
American  people  by  developments  which  have 
taken  place  in  hydro-electric  transmission. 

These  natural  gifts  can  never  be  of  service  to 
the  people  until  developed  and  the  development 
is  practically  dependent  upon  private  enterprise. 
If  this  development  depended  upon  govern- 
mental action^  it  would  take  twenty  or  more  years 
to  obtain  the  first  results. 

Such  was  the  case  with  the  irrigation  projects 
which  have  shown  development  for  the  first  time 
during  the  last  term  of  President  Roosevelt. 

In  the  early  Eighties,  Senator  John  T.  Morgan 
of  Alabama  began  the  agitation  in  Congress  for 
appropriations  looking  toward  the  irrigation  of 
arid  lands,  and  each  year  he  would  promptly 
annex  a  rider  to  the  Appropriation  Bill,  which 
rider  was  as  promptly  shelved.  His  persistency 
and  his  foresight  in  this  work  finally  compelled 
recognition,  which  resulted  in  Congressional  ap- 
propriations of  a  revolving  fund  now  being  used 
for  this  work.  Unless  this  fund  is  materially  in- 
creased, future  developments  will  be  very  limited 
and  only  a  tithe  of  the  great  scheme  will  have 
been  accomplished  in  our  day. 

Our  National  Government  has  apparently 
reached  the  limit  beyond  which  our  statesmen 
will  not  go  in  making  appropriations  looking  to 
the  forwarding  of  the  irrigation  of  arid  lands, 
forest  reserve  and  re-forestation.  If  this  be  true, 
there  could  be  no  development  beyond  the  lim- 
ited amounts  available  from  year  to  year  as  re- 
turns upon  the  existing  expenditures,  and  unless 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS 


private  capital  and  enterprise  takes  hold  the 
extension  of  this  grand  work  will  necessarily  be 
limited. 

After  years  of  investigation  of  the  climatolog- 
ical,  geological  and  forestry  conditions  in  the 
mountainous  sections  of  California,  with  relation 
to  the  conservation  of  water,  I  submit  that  THE 
QUANTITY  OF  RAINFALL  PER  SEA- 
SON IS  NO  GUIDE  TO  follow  with  relation 
to  the  MINIMUM  FLOW  OF  THE 
STREAMS  during  the  summer  months. 

The  geological  formations  in  the  various 
'watersheds  are  solely  responsible  for  the  mini- 
mum flow,  except  where  augmented  by  artificial 
conservation. 

In  watersheds  where  numerous  old  river  chan- 
nels or  lava  cappings  exist,  the  minimum  flow 
will  be  very  uniform  each  summer,  irrespective 
of  the  amount  of  rainfall  during  the  preceding 
season. 

As  an  illustration:  On  the  North  Yuba  River 
in  the  summer  of  1898,  the  minimum  flow  at  Bay 
Counties  Power  Company's  dam  was  practically 
250  second  feet.  The  preceding  rainy  season^ 
1897-8,  was  the  lowest  of  record  for  fifty  years. 
The  minimum  annual  flow  has  not  varied  ten  per 
cent  during  any  of  the  succeeding  years,  although 
the  rainfall  has  been  from  two  to  four  times  as 
great. 

The  water  which  is  stored  in  this  watershed  in 
the  old  river  channels  is  of  approximate  equal 
capacity  annually,  and  when  the  surplus  run-off 
ceases,  this  "underground  storage"  (as  I  term  it) 


Geology  and 


Mininaum 


10  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

gives  forth  its  normal  quantity,  except  when  re- 
stricted by  the  heating  of  the  earth's  surface  dur- 
ing the  summer,  which  results  in  evaporation  to 
a  greater  or  less  degree ;  and  it  is  this  degree  of 
variation  in  summer  temperatures  annually 
which  affects  the  minimum  flow  in  such  water- 
sheds and  then  only  to  a  minor  degree. 
Under*round  Per  contra,  in  watersheds  where  few  or  no  old 
river  channels  abound  because  of  the  massive 
rock  formations  extant  throughout,  the  oppor- 
tunities for  underground  storage  are  very  re- 
stricted and  the  run-off  is  almost  immediate,  save 
for  the  saturation  of  the  thin  soils  which  cover 
these  rock  formations. 

In  consequence  the  streams  reach  maximum 
flow  shortly  after  the  commencement  of  precipi- 
tation (save  for  frozen  storage  due  to  low  tem- 
peratures following  the  rains)  and  reach  low 
periods  shortly  after  the  melting  of  the  frozen 
storage. 

In  the  case  of  frozen  storage,  this  is  frequently 
eliminated  during  some  seasons  in  April, 
May  and  June,  due  to  high  temperatures  and 
warm  rains.  As  a  result,  such  watersheds  are  of 
little  value  for  minimum  flow  during  the  summer 
months. 

Landtito  MiJmumred       Timbered  lands  in  any  of  these  watersheds  af- 
Flow  ford  no  water  storage  available  during  the  very 

dry  summer  months,  particularly  July  and 
August,  and  they  also  furnish  less  opportunity 
for  the  accumulation  of  frozen  storage  in  the 
winter. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  II 

The  experience  of  mountaineers  demonstrates 
that  snow-fall  does  not  accumulate  as  rapidly  in 
growing  timber  as  upon  the  open  bare  groundj 
and  there  is  practically  no  opportunity  for  the 
pack  of  said  snows  and  formation  of  ice  (which 
alone  will  insure  a  longer  term  of  supply)  due 
to  the  warmth  of  the  trees  obtained  from  sun- 
shine and  transmitted  to  the  ground.  The  only 
advantage  of  timber  and  vegetation  is  to  delay 
the  gravitation  of  water  by  preventing  quick  run- 
off, but  after  the  rain  ceases,  the  constant  increas- 
ing temperatures  with  the  approach  of  the  sum- 
mer months  will  finally  melt  and  evaporate  the 
moisture  which  is  upon  the  ground  and  for  some 
distance  under  the  surface.  The  snow  which  is 
formed  into  ice  on  the  barren  soil  will  melt  much 
more  slowly  and  furnish  a  run-off  for  a  much 
longer  period. 

On  many  streams  it  is  necessary  to  provide  ^te0creas^y  for 
from  1 80  to  210  days  of  conservation  to  insure 
uniform  daily  supply  to  the  hydro-electric  plant 
and  provide  for  evaporation  and  leakage  in  tran- 
sit. 

As  a  result  of  the  maintenance  of  a  continuous 
flow  throughout  the  year  made  necessary  for  the 
successful  operation  of  hydro-electric  transmis- 
sion, the  waters  so  conserved  are  available  and 
are  used  by  the  agriculturists  for  irrigation  dur- 
ing the  dry  season  and  at  the  time  when  wanted, 
which  would  not  be  the  case  had  not  the  waters 
been  so  conserved. 

The  many  early  financial  failures  in  California  ^f**gy  iSS?esnies 
of  irrigation  districts  and  companies  were  due  to 


12  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

the  fact,  that  the  price  which  the  agriculturist 
could  afford  to  pay  for  his  uses  did  not  produce 
revenue  enough  to  pay  the  costs  of  operation, 
maintenance,  interest  on  the  cost  of  installation, 
and  depreciation.  This  has  demonstrated  that 
conservation  of  the  waters  for  irrigation  purposes 
(except  a  few  isolated  cases)  will  not  prove  a 
profitable  venture. 

This  condition  is  reversed,  however,  where  the 
conservation  is  made  for  hydro-electric  purposes 
and  the  uniform  flow  is  made  available  for  agri- 
cultural purposes. 

Little  or  no  credit  has  been  given  to  the  pio- 
neers and  capitalists  who  have  assisted  in  the  de- 
velopment of  hydro-electric  transmission,  which 
is  fraught  with  more  permanent  gain  to  the  State 
than  any  similar  expenditure  of  money  in  any 
other  enterprise. 

The  man  who  purchases  real  estate  in  a  city 
personally  accumulates  wealth,  due  to  the  in- 
creased value  thereof,  resulting  from  increased 
population  and  necessarily  increased  producing 
capacity  of  said  lands  when  buildings  are  erected. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  this  citizen  has  done  nothing 
toward  the  upbuilding  of  the  country  or  in  the 
production  of  its  wealth,  and  his  entire  profit  is 
realized  as  a  result  of  increased  population,  due 
to  the  effort  of  other  citizens  in  the  utilization  of 
capital  for  industrial  and  agricultural  develop- 
ment. Among  those  who  have  made  this  growth 
possible  by  the  application  of  energy,  brains  and 
capital,  and  the  assumption  of  all  risks,  are  the 
pioneers  and  developers  of  hydro-electric  trans- 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  13 

mission.  If  the  amount  of  energy,  brains  and 
capital  had  been  applied  by  these  people  in  the 
purchase  of  real  estate  in  the  large  cities  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  since  1892,  and  others  had  been 
found  who  would  have  made  the  developments 
in  the  various  lines  of  industry  which  have  been 
made,  the  profits  accruing  from  such  real  estate 
investments  would  undoubtedly  have  been  ten 
fold  more  than  the  profits  which  have  been  made 
in  the  development  of  the  industries  that  have 
meant  so  much  to  the  increasing  population  and 
necessarily  increasing  wealth  production  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  during  that  period.  And  the  mo- 
tives  which  prompt  these  developments  are  not 
always  for  financial  gain  only,  many  of  the 
pioneers  have  felt  greater  initiative  and  reward 
in  the  fact  that  they  were  doing  something  toward 
the  upbuilding  of  their  State,  in  making  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  none  or  one  grew  be- 
fore, than  in  the  sense  of  financial  gain  and  the 
comforts  and  pleasures  that  would  be  obtained 
from  the  use  thereof;  and  many  and  numerous 
are  the  sacrifices  which  have  been  made  for  the 
benefit  of  the  communities  in  which  these  de- 
velopments were  started  for  the  purpose  of  as- 
sisting various  new  enterprises  to  become  factors 
in  the  production  of  wealth.  Many  of  these  have 
been  done  at  financial  sacrifice  and  financial  loss, 
and  yet  they  were  cheerfully  done  because  of  the 
sense  of  loyalty  that  was  felt  in  the  upbuilding 
of  this  great  empire. 

The  utilization  of  electric  current  for  power  Monopoly 
purposes  has  become  general  and  the  method  of 


PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 


Fuel  Competition 


Stability  of 
Investment 


production  is  not  at  all  monopolistic.  Power  can 
be  and  is  produced  alike  from  wood,  peat,  coal 
and  oil,  and  the  owners  of  hydro-electric  trans- 
mission plants  have  to  meet  competition  with 
these  fuels  in  their  respective  sections ;  the  selling 
price  of  the  various  commodities  (particularly 
wood  and  coal)  are  regulated  by  the  value  of 
labor  necessary  to  produce  same,  and  yet  we  have 
many  fluctuations  in  the  selling  price  of  these 
commodities,  due  to  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand, but  the  great  redeeming  feature  in  this 
new  development  is  the  fact  that  when  such 
plants  are  wisely  and  judiciously  constructed 
with  relation  to  the  maximum  output  in  connec- 
tion with  the  minimum  supply  of  water,  the  in- 
stallation can  be  considered  reliable  enough  to 
warrant  the  making  of  very  long  term  contracts 
at  uniform  prices,  thereby  enabling  industries  to 
insure  a  permanent  condition  of  cost,  as  far  as 
fuel  or  power  is  concerned.  This  condition  does 
not  apply  to  any  of  the  fuels  which  heretofore 
have  been  used. 

In  consequence,  investment  in  hydro-electric 
transmission  is  now  looked  upon  as  stable  when 
properly  and  efficiently  installed,  and  the  in- 
vestor is  satisfied  with  a  smaller  return  than  he 
would  obtain  from  his  investment  in  timber 
lands,  or  coal  mines  or  oil  wells,  all  of  which 
necessitate  not  only  an  interest  return  upon  the 
investment,  but  also  a  large  annual  return  to  re- 
place the  original  capital  investment,  owing  to 
the  short  time  limit  of  supply  exhaustion. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  15 

The  National  Government  through  its  For-  Restrictions  by 

.  .  .  Jborestry  .Department 

estry  Department  is  placing  various  restrictions 
upon  the  appropriations  and  use  of  water  within 
the  reservations.  The  only  control  which  the  Na- 
tional Government  can  exercise  upon  the  waters 
within  the  State  of  California,  is  due  to  its  right 
of  ownership  of  land  upon  which  and  over  which 
the  water  travels  in  its  downward  course  to  the 
ocean,  and  by  placing  the  restrictions  and  impos- 
ing financial  burdens  upon  the  proposed  use  of 
said  water,  the  Government  is  thereby  increasing 
the  cost  of  the  power  produced  and  placing  the 
development  of  said  water  at  a  serious  financial 
disadvantage  in  competition  with  other  plants 
which  are  already  installed  and  in  operation. 

As  a  matter  of  wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  levefoTmente  Early 
pioneers,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  the  most  economi- 
cal developments  available  in  this  State,  in  re- 
lation to  the  total  cost  of  the  plant,  have  already 
been  developed  or  are  in  possession  of  the  exist- 
ing companies,  and  that  condition  of  itself  will 
tend  to  retard  the  development  of  other  available 
sources  to  the  extent  of  the  ability  of  the  new 
developments  to  compete  with  the  established 
plants  and  the  profits  insured  from  the  new  in- 
stallations must  necessarily  be  less  when  entering 
into  competition. 

All  water  rights  in  California,  (except  on  pub-  MnoTouProaiying 
lie  lands,)  are  State  property,  and  laws  have  been 
established  for  their  appropriation  and  use,  over 
which  the  National  Government  has  no  control. 

//  the  plans  of  conservation  of  the  waters  on 
Government  lands  prohibit  future  development 


i6 


PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 


Restriction  of 
Development 


Public  Benefits 


Cement  Industry 


by  private  enterprise,  the  result  will  be  the  en- 
couragement of  the  formation  of  a  monopoly  of 
the  existing  interests,  but  even  this  will  be  very 
remote,  due  to  the  many  conflicting  interests  in- 
volved throughout  the  State  of  California. 

The  plan  of  procedure  with  relation  to  the 
utilization  of  water  in  the  forest  reserve  for 
power  development,  will  also  restrict  the  invest- 
ment of  private  capital,  due  to  the  limit  of  time 
for  which  the  rights  are  granted. 

The  Department  has  apparently  lost  sight  of 
the  value  resulting  from  private  development,  in 
that  the  water  which  is  being  used  by  the  various 
power  plants  to-day  is  not  absorbed  or  consumed, 
but  the  waters  continue  to  flow  on  for  man's  uses 
equally  as  much  as  if  developed  specifically  for 
those  purposes. 

There  are  many  industries  in  this  State  now 
producing  and  materially  assisting  in  the  State's 
wealth  production,  which  otherwise  would  not 
be  a  factor  except  for  the  developments  which 
have  been  made  in  hydro-electric  transmission. 
A  notable  example  is  the  cement  industry,  en- 
tirely new  in  California  within  the  past  ten  years. 
They  are  very  large  users  of  power  for  driving 
the  machinery  and  for  fuel  for  burning  the  ma- 
terial. Owing  to  the  conditions  existing  with 
hydro-electric  plants,  these  companies  are  able  to 
and  have  made  very  long  term  contracts  at  uni- 
form low  prices  for  all  their  electric  power,  and 
in  most  cases  when  these  contracts  were  made, 
oil  was  selling  in  their  districts  at  from  25  cents 
to  40  cents  per  barrel,  and  it  was  in  competition 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  17 

with  oil  at  those  prices  that  the  owners  deter- 
mined the  rate  to  be  paid  for  its  electric  current 
supply;  these  prices  have  not  been  raised  and 
cannot  be  raised,  thereby  insuring  a  low  cost  of 
production  so  far  as  power  is  concerned. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  price  of  oil  to-day  is 
more  than  double  the  price  at  which  their  con- 
tracts were  initially  made,  and  if  they  could 
not  have  made  those  long  term  contracts  for  cur- 
rent at  a  uniform  low  cost  this  industry  would 
not  have  been  financed  initially,  because  of  an 
absence  of  insurance  against  increased  cost  of 
production  whereby  their  plants  might  become 
idle  in  competition  with  foreign  production, 
which  heretofore  supplied  the  entire  market. 

Another  very  large  industry  might  be  men-  Gold  Dred*in* 
tioned  in  this  connection;  that  is  the  recovery 
of  gold  by  the  use  of  dredges  in  lands  adjacent 
to  the  streams  of  Northern  California  whereby 
the  material  is  elevated  from  a  depth  in  some 
cases  of  sixty  to  seventy  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  the  material  being  then  washed 
and  passed  over  riffles  to  obtain  the  gold  and  re- 
turn the  material  immediately  upon  the  ground 
which  had  been  excavated,  and  as  a  result  assist- 
ing in  the  wealth  production  of  this  State.  More 
than  one-third  of  the  total  production  of  gold  in 
California  in  the  year  1908  was  produced  by 
these  dredges. 

The  use  of  hydro-electric  transmission  is  par- 
ticularly  valuable  in  agricultural  sections,  where 
thousands  of  motors  are  now  in  use  in  the  pump- 
ing of  water  to  the  surface  for  irrigation  which 
otherwise  would  not  have  been  permissible. 


1 8  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

The  sources  of  water  supply  available  for 
hydro-electric  development  are  in  the  mountains 
of  this  State,  and  it  is  the  aim,  where  possible, 
to  obtain  the  use  of  this  water  under  as  high  a 
head  or  pressure  as  physical  conditions  will 
permit,  thereby  usually  minimizing  the  cost  of 
development.  These  supplies  of  water  are 
available  from  the  ordinary  flow  in  the  streams 
for  many  months  of  the  year,  but  owing  to  our 
wet  and  dry  seasons  many  of  the  hydro-electric 
plants  are  dependent  upon  the  conservation  of 
water  in  reservoirs  where  the  underground  stor- 
age or  the  melting  of  frozen  conservation  is  not 
sufficient  for  a  minimum  flow  equal  to  the  maxi- 
mum requirement  of  the  plant  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  and  as  a  result  these  waters  are  im- 
pounded during  the  rainy  season  at  a  time  when 
the  conservation  of  this  surplus  water  is  of  no 
disadvantage  to  any  users  below.  On  the  other 
hand,  by  the  conservation  of  this  water  in  the 
winter  and  the  use  of  same  uniformly  through 
the  summer  months,  the  various  streams,  partic- 

Fiog™"  ularly  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers, 

have  had  their  minimum  flow  augmented  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  make  river  transportation 
to  many  points  possible,  which  would  other- 
wise not  be  reached  during  the  dry  months  of 
the  summer  by  steamer,  owing  to  the  formation 
of  bars  in  the  streams  at  low  water. 

Additional  Agncui-         Without  this  added  flow  at  low  water,  the 

tural  Lands  Available  ..  .        ,  ,  .  '       , 

area  of  agricultural  production  in  many  of  the 
rich  bottom  lands  of  this  State  would  be  cur- 
tailed, due  to  restriction  of  transportation  and 
irrigation  facilities. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  19 

The  companies  operating  in  the  forests  and  p™tecti<m  of  Forests 
mountains  of  California  have  a  large  number 
of  employees  whose  duties  are  to  patrol,  repair, 
and  protect  its  properties,  and  as  a  result  many 
incipient  fires  are  continually  being  put  out, 
which  might  otherwise  result  in  the  devasta- 
tion of  large  areas  of  timber  lands;  and  this  is 
done  without  cost  to  the  State  or  its  people. 

In  many  sections  of  California  the  entire  Reforestation 
country  has  been  denuded  (particularly  in  min- 
ing sections)  prior  to  the  introduction  of  hydro- 
electric power,  where  such  timber  was  used 
mainly  for  fuel  purposes,  and  to  some  extent  for 
mining  timber  purposes.  As  soon  as  a  second 
growth  would  be  large  enough,  this  would  also 
be  destroyed  for  fuel  purposes,  resulting  in  al- 
most absolute  devastation.  By  the  use  of  hydro- 
electric power  during  the  last  fifteen  years, 
these  districts  are  becoming  covered  again  with 
a  new  growth,  and  in  time  will  produce  suitable 
timber  for  lumber  purposes. 

All  through  the  mountains  the  patrol  is  con- 
tinued day  by  day,  and  the  surrounding  country 
is  being  protected  by  this  patrol  to  a  much 
greater  extent  and  more  reliably  than  is  being 
done  by  any  other  interests. 

The  use  of  electric  current  and  power  is  not  use  of  cheap  Power 
uniform  throughout  the  twenty-four  hours  of 
each  day,  and  the  companies  now  supplying  the 
markets  have  their  greatest  demand  during  what 
are  known  as  the  "peak"  hours,  beginning  ap- 
proximately at  sunset  and  the  succeeding  four 
or  five  hours,  and  the  minimum  consumption  is 


20  PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 

between  the  hours  of  midnight  and  6  a.  m.  The 
consumption  during  the  daylight  hours  is  mate- 
rially less  than  during  the  peak  hours.  In  fact, 
the  average  output  (termed  load  factor)  of  the 
majority  of  the  plants  will  not  exceed  60  per 
cent  of  the  maximum  (or  peak)  load,  which  is 
furnished  by  these  plants  during  some  part  of 
the  twenty-four  hours  of  each  day.  Therefore, 
these  plants  have  idle  capacity  ranging  from 
nothing  for  a  few  minutes  per  day  to  60  or  70 
per  cent  of  the  total  installation,  with  an  aver- 
age of  40  per  cent  of  the  installation  which  is 
available  for  sale  if  patrons  could  be  obtained 
to  use  it  during  times  when  not  in  use  by  the  ex- 
isting demands. 

There  are  some  purposes  for  which  this  idle 
power  can  be  utilized  and  is  now  being  used  in 
the  furtherance  of  developments,  similar  in  pur- 
pose and  value  to  that  'which  the  government 
had  given  its  aid  through  its  Reclamation  Ser- 
vice. In  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  val- 
leys there  are  numerous  public  plants  where 
electric  power  is  used  for  three  or  four  months 
Pumping  River  of  each  year  in  pumping  water  from  the  rivers 

Water  for  Irrigation  t  ,111  r  11 

to  the  uplands,  and  by  means  of  small  govern- 
ing reservoirs  and  irrigation  ditches  these  prop- 
erties are  beginning  to  become  productive, 
where  heretofore  they  practically  produced 
nothing.  This  class  of  customer  could  use  the 
power  during  the  daily  low  periods  of  consump- 
tion, and  by  means  of  the  governing  reservoirs 
be  able  to  pump  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  hours 
per  day  to  supply  their  demands  and  at  the  same 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  21 

time  keep  off  the  peak  demands  of  the  power 
plant  Such  customers  are  able  to  contract  for 
power  at  much  lower  prices  than  can  be  obtained 
for  24-hour  use  or  even  for  use  during  ten  hours 
of  daylight 

As  this  type  of  service  only  requires  power  for 
three  or  four  months  in  the  year,  the  installation 
of  steam  plants  and  their  operation  becomes  pro- 
hibitive, due  to  the  interest  and  depreciation 
charge  being  so  great  because  of  the  limited 
period  of  use  during  the  year.  For  instance,  if 
a  plant  of  this  kind  were  operating  for  three 
months  of  the  year,  the  fixed  charges  upon  the 
steam  plant  would  be  four  times  as  great  as  a 
plant  operating  twelve  months  of  each  year.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  burden  of  investment  be- 
comes too  great  for  the  average  farmer. 

In  some  of  the  sections  adjacent  to  the  rivers 
where  levees  have  been  built  to  protect  the  sur- 
rounding country  from  inundation,  large  acre- 
ages have  become  flooded  each  spring  with  the 
run-off  from  the  watershed  above  them,  because 
of  there  being  no  outlet  through  the  levees  at 
any  elevation  which  would  permit  of  draining 
these  lands. 

In  order  to  utilize  these  lands  for  agricultural  Pumping  out 

,  fo  t   .      Leveed  Lands 

purposes  it  becomes  necessary  to  remove  this 
water  by  pumping  for  a  period  of  time  ranging 
from  two  to  four  months  prior  to  the  planting 
season,  and  this  work  has  been  accomplished  very 
successfully  and  profitably  to  the  landowner  by 
the  use  of  this  hydro-electric  power  available 
during  the  eighteen  hours  of  low  load  at  prices 


22 


PUBLIC  BENEFITS  FROM 


with  which  no  other  form  of  power  could 
compete,  and  also  at  prices  below  the  average 
obtained  by  the  power  companies.  In  fact,  all 
power  companies  make  inducements  to  patrons 
where  possible  to  keep  off  the  period  of  maxi- 
mum demand  each  day,  for  by  so  doing  the 
power  company  gets  increased  revenue  from  the 
same  investment  which  otherwise  would  be  lost. 

The  Plan  adopted  by  the  National  Govern- 
to  Private  Companies  ment  for  the  development  of  the  irrigation  of 
arid  lands  has  placed  a  limit  upon  the  total  cap- 
ital expenditure  which  can  be  made  for  this 
purpose,  and  if  this  same  plan  had  been  adopted 
in  the  development  of  hydro-electric  transmis- 
sion, the  result  would  have  been  so  very  limited 
up  to  the  present  time  as  to  prohibit  the  very 
large  public  benefits  which  have  been  obtained. 
Never  Ending  Growth  It  is  a  f  act  known  to  every  manager  of  the 
various  hydro-electric  transmission  companies 
that  the  constant  demands  made  upon  them  for 
increased  service  from  old  and  new  patrons  re- 
sults in  a  never-ending  appeal  to  the  stockhold- 
ers, directors,  and  financial  sources  for  addi- 
tional capital  necessary  to  cope  with  this  con- 
stant growth. 

How  impossible  it  would  be  for  these  men 
to  properly  conduct  their  business  without  addi- 
tional growth  and  how  impossible  it  is  in  this 
State  to  avoid  making  additional  investments  for 
extensions  and  betterments,  because  of  the  legal 
right  that  patrons  have  to  demand  service. 

If  the  policy  of  the  National  Government  in 
relation  to  the  development  of  the  irrigation  of 


Legal  Right  to 
Demand  Service 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENTS  23 

arid  lands  were  applied  to  the  private  enter- 
prises of  the  hydro-electric  transmission  com- 
panies in  California,  each  of  these  companies 
would  be  compelled  to  violate  the  laws  of  their 
State  by  refusing  service  which  the  law  compels, 
because  the  gross  income  from  any  of  these  prop- 
erties is  not  large  enough  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary capital  for  these  extensions.  Practically 
no  moneyed  institution  would  undertake  the 
financing^  of  this  type  of  quasi  public  property 
without  ample  provision  being  made  to  take  care 
of  the  future  growth. 

The  function  of  control  of  any  project  or  Nationafcco°ntroi 
measure  by  the  National  Government  has  been 
and  should  be  limited  in  its  exercise  where  the 
projects  are  not  permissible  of  development  by 
private  enterprise.  If  it  is  to  be  the  policy  of 
this  government  to  control  all  public  service, 
there  are  so  many  more  vital  and  important  c 

J  t  Small  Population 

problems  to  be  first  considered  before  the  ques-  Affected 
tion  of  benefit  or  injury  to  a  small  section  of  the 
United  States  and  a  smaller  percentage  of  its 
people. 

No  agitation  is  possible  on  the  subject  of  irri-  sea^Loca?fnservation 
gation  or  conservation  of  water  in  the  Eastern  Application 
or  Southern  States  because  of  the  absence  of  na- 
tional ownership  of  public  lands,  and  the  total 
population  possible  to  be  affected  by  the  national 
control  of  conservation  of  water  within  its  own 
domain  is  less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States. 

If  all  the  water  power  available  on  govern-  ab°i?pwSe?  Powt7ai1 
ment  land  in  California  is  developed,  it  would  with  Oil  Production 


24  PUBLIC  BENEFITS 

not  produce  an  amount  of  power  equal  to  the 
productive  value  of  one  fourth  of  the  annual 
production  of  the  oil  wells  in  this  State. 

Conclusion. — It  appears  to  me  as  evident  that 
the  injuries  or  benefits  which  might  affect  the 
people  of  this  State,  due  to  any  action  of  the 
government  in  the  conservation  of  water  upon 
its  own  lands  must  of  necessity  be  very  small  and 
less  worthy  of  the  time,  attention,  and  expend- 
iture of  money  than  many  of  the  larger  and  more 
important  problems  which  affect  the  public  at 
large,  as  much  so  in  the  State  of  New  York  or 
Illinois  or  Texas  as  they  would  in  California. 

It  is  incontrovertible  that  the  existing  develop- 
ments are  responsible  for  a  very  large  increase 
in  assessable  property  and  the  employment  of 
many  thousands  of  California's  population  in 
mines,  mills,  quarries,  farms,  railroads,  etc., 
etc.,  and  without  these  developments  the  State's 
progress  would  have  been  very  seriously  re- 
stricted. 

We  have  an  enormous  territorial  empire  with 
very  limited  occupancy,  and  every  encourage- 
ment should  be  given  to  any  and  all  industries 
which  will  increase  the  opportunity  for  addi- 
tional employment  and  wealth  production. 

The  developments  to  which  the  writer  of  this 
paper  has  devoted  his  time  and  service  during 
the  past  fourteen  years  and  which  are  now  owned 
by  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  did  not 
involve  the  forest  reservations  in  any  develop- 
ments which  have  been  made. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


?E 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT  9   19 

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3  Dec'5?- 

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LD21-20m-5,'39  (9269s) 

